Adult RE:
In this adult education session, participants will watch a recording of one-on-one conversation between Karen Akuyea Vargas and Airen Dean Lydick, as they talk openly about lessons learned and skills developed over decades of organizing for racial justice. Witness a deep dive as Akuyea and Airen explore what might be preventing people who are white, of European heritage, and/or of colonialist ancestry from vigorously and fully engaging in a broad intergenerational, multiracial, and cross-class movement for equity and liberation for all, led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
Airen will facilitate session participants in opportunities to debrief the conversation they witness and to reflect on implementing the shared “learned lessons” in their daily lives.
This one-hour session will be online, over Zoom, on Sunday, February 28th, 12-1 p.m. Both full group conversation and breakout groups will be utilized. If you’re interested in what it can mean for people to “come alongside,” to engage meaningful with humility and empowerment in the movement for racial justice, then this session is for you!
Karen Akuyea Vargas is Founder and Director of Living Life Leadership, the youth mentoring program of New Life Community Development Agency in Kitsap County and has advocated for youth and their families in Kitsap schools and communities for over 30 years. Akuyea is a trained facilitator for the Strengthening African American Families program and co-chair of the Multicultural Advisory Council for the Bainbridge Island School District. She is founder of Living Arts Cultural Heritage and has organized many Kitsap community events such as Celebration of Hidden History, Weaving Histories Celebration, 9/11 Sacrifice Of Service, and Healing Our Land, Healing Our People. Akuyea is a past recipient of the Linda Gabriel Award for Human Rights from Kitsap County Council for Human Rights and the Woman of Achievement Award from YWCA Kitsap, among other honors, and is an ardent human rights and civil rights advocate.
Airen Dean Lydick grew up in rural Nebraska, on ancestral lands of the Omaha (U-Mo'n-Ho'n) and other peoples of the Great Plains. He is a worker, facilitator, and relational organizer who seeks out collaborative efforts to increase healing, liberation, and joy, from local to international levels. Since 1999, he has lived mostly on Coastal Salish lands, including those of the Suquamish (dxwsəqwəb), S'Klallam̕
(nəxwqíyt nəxwsƛáýəḿ), Snohomish (Sdoh-doh-hohbsh), and Duwamish (dxwdəwʔabš). Airen aims to boost intergenerational Black and Indigenous led movements for transformative anti-racist practice, disability justice, queer/trans empowerment, im/migrant rights, and gender equity. Here in Kitsap, his organizing is rooted primarily in the grassroots efforts of Kitsap Showing Up for Racial Justice (Kitsap SURJ), Kitsap Advocating for Immigrant Rights & Equality (KAIRE), Living Arts Cultural Heritage (LACH), and Kitsap Equity, Race, And Community Engagement Coalition (Kitsap ERACE Coalition).
Airen Lydick, a.lydick@gmail.com